Photographer of the Year 2021 winners revealed
Andy Rovenko’s unique and quirky series, The Rocketgirl Chronicles, depicting his daughter and her trusty spacesuit exploring a ghostly Melbourne during lockdown, has taken out the highest honours in Photographer of the Year 2021, presented by Nokia.
Now in its ninth year, the competition is the largest of its kind for amateur photographers in Australasia and for 2021 had a prize pool valued at more than $30,000.
Rovenko’s series was captured during Victoria’s extended coronavirus lockdown and was almost a happy accident – the photographer says he never intended to make a series with his daughter as the star, rather he was just trying to come up with creative ways to keep her entertained during another dreaded lockdown.
For judge Tim Levy, every year it becomes more difficult to judge the competition and boil down to the final shortlisted photographs.
“There are so many great images captured by amateur photographers entered in the competition each year,” he says. “It also shows the importance of planning and taking your camera with you wherever you go – you never know when the stars will align and you will get an exceptional image.”
The annual competition challenges photographers in the major categories to shoot four images that work together as a cohesive series.
From dramatic landscapes to heart-rending portraits, and every genre in between, below you can see our winners in the competition.
Check out all the category winners below.
People
Winner: Andy Rovenko, The Rocketgirl chronicles.
Runner-up: Carole Mills Noronha, Covid lockdown window visits with dad.
Landscape
Runner-up: Niall Chang, Shifting sands through time.
Aerial
Runner-up, Alex Ham, Colours of the Pilbara.
Black and White
Animal and Nature
Runner-up, Hannah Le Leu, Turtle Hatchling's Journey
Photo of the Year
Runner-up: Harman Singh Heer, Wildfire.
Creative
Runner-up: Glenda Gore, Cottesloe Mermaids.
Junior
Runner-up: Jacob Dedman, Where to now?
Mobile
